Two individuals from Temecula have been sentenced to federal prison for their involvement in a mail insurance fraud that defrauded the United States Postal Service (USPS) of more than $2.1 million. Anwer Fareed Alam, aged 36, and Yousofzay Fahim Alam, aged 34, each received 27-month prison terms from United States District Judge Wesley L. Hsu. In addition to prison time, the judge ordered them to jointly pay $2,135,739 in restitution.
On February 16, both brothers pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud. The fraudulent activities spanned from October 2016 to May 2019, during which the brothers purchased USPS Priority Mail packages with $100 insurance for lost or damaged parcels and submitted false claims.
Anwer Alam was responsible for sending empty or low-value parcels through Priority Mail to fictitious addresses, while Yousofzay Alam filed false insurance claims via the USPS website. These claims falsely asserted that the packages contained high-value items that were lost or damaged in transit. To support the fraudulent claims, they included false invoices and misleading photographs of goods that were not actually sent.
The USPS, relying on these false claims, issued insurance checks to the Alams, compensating their supposed losses. These checks, which included both the insurance value and the shipping cost, were mailed to various addresses associated with the brothers in Temecula, including their personal and business addresses and multiple post office boxes. The fraudulently obtained funds were then deposited into the brothers’ bank accounts.
An example of the fraud occurred in November 2018 when a claim check for a total of $106.59 was mailed to a business address in Temecula.
The case, which resulted in a total loss of approximately $2,135,739 to the USPS, was investigated by the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General. The prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Courtney N. Williams of the Riverside Branch Office.
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